Final countdown for Saskatchewan CDMA

Canadian provincial telco SaskTel will shut down all its CDMA services in Saskatchewan in a year’s time, on 5 July 2017, by which date it aims to migrate all remaining CDMA device users to its 4G LTE and HSPA+ services, the company announced on its website. Ron Styles, SaskTel CEO, stated: ‘By shutting down the CDMA network, we can repurpose spectrum so we can continue to add capacity to our 4G [3.5G HSPA+] and 4G LTE network province-wide and resources can be refocused towards emerging technologies, products and services.’ The statement also noted that SaskTel’s Canadian wireless roaming partners are in the process of closing their CDMA networks (including Bell, Telus and MTS). SaskTel stopped offering CDMA devices and service contracts in its stores and authorised dealers effective 31 March 2015 to ensure that no customer would be left in a contract by the turn-down date, whilst it is encouraging CDMA users to migrate to other platforms with subsidised handset prices starting at zero. Previously, it phased out 3G CDMA services in 2014, leaving the legacy network with only 2.5G capabilities.